Pet Sematary

As you know, for some time now I've been revisiting many of King's early works to see how well they've aged over the years. And I've been surprised by how "timeless" some of them turned out to be. I've waited this long to read Pet Sematary because it was my favorite King title way back when. It's definitely one of the books that stayed with me the longest afterward. But I'm no longer that young teenager and I was curious to see what I'd think about it now.

Brought it with me on my latest hiking trip in the Canadian Rockies and went through it in just a few sittings. Yes, even decades after its original release, Pet Sematary remains a veritable page-turner. Moreover, as an adult who has experienced grief in a myriad ways, I believe that I could feel for Louis in a more profound fashion and understand his plight in a way that the adolescent I used to be never could. After all, grief and loss are at the heart of this tale.

In the introduction, King recounts how this one was never supposed to be published. Upon completing Pet Sematary, he found the result so startling and so gruesome that he put the book in a drawer and thought that it would be the end of it. He was horrified by what he had written and believed that he had gone too far. And though King has never been sorry that he did write the book and ultimately got it published, he still finds it distressing and problematic. With that in mind, I sat down to give this one another shot and I wasn't disppointed!

Here's the blurb:

Now a major motion picture! Stephen King’s #1 New York Times bestseller is a “wild, powerful, disturbing” (The Washington Post Book World) classic about evil that exists far beyond the grave—among King’s most iconic and frightening novels.

When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow’s tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed’s beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing…as is evidenced by the makeshift graveyard in the nearby woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Then there are the warnings to Louis both real and from the depths of his nightmares that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard where another burial ground lures with seductive promises and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden there—one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful. As Louis is about to discover for himself sometimes, dead is better…

Whether you've read the novel or seen the movie, the ancient Indian burial ground behind that old house in a small town of New England has become part of American pop culture. What actually blew my mind was the fact that such a pet cemetery does exist, or at least used to. In the introduction, Stephen King explains that there was one behind the house his family rented in rural Maine when he was invited to spend a year at his alma mater, the University of Maine, where he would be the writer in residence and would also teach a class in the literature of the fantastic. His daughter's cat was killed by a speeding heavy tanker truck from the chemical plant down the road and was buried in that pet cemetery. Children who had buried beloved pets there made a sign on the tree just outside this small makeshift graveyard that read PET SEMATARY. Not long after, King's youngest son, barely two years of age at the time, ran toward the road as one of those same trucks was coming, heedless of the danger. King managed to get to him before anything happened, but that terrible "what if" feeling wouldn't go away. The story that is Pet Sematary was born from those incidents. What would you do if you could bring a loved one back to life? That's the novel in a nutshell.

The characterization is particularly well-done. I loved how you really get to know the Creed family. Their interactions with the Crandalls across the road encompassed that small-town feel associated with many such places across New England and the rest of the USA. Jud, especially, is the kind of neighbor you wish you could have anywhere. Rachel's storyline, with the death of her sister and how it affected her and the rest of her family, added yet more layers to her relationship with Louis. Few authors can write children as well as King, and in typical King fashion he got Eileen and Gage just right. The supporting cast, especially Louis' colleagues at the clinic, were a nice addition to an already impressive cast of characters.

The better part of Pet Sematary is a slow burn. There is a somewhat long set-up stage during which King lays the groundwork for what is to come. Personally, I had no problem with any of it because it sets the mood for the emotional impact of what is about to take place. Hence, the heartbreaking loss of a child hits you like a punch in the gut and you can't help but feel for the Creed family and what they're going through. That scene of Louis running, hearing the truck barreling down the road, and then seeing Gage's shoe and cap full of blood. I've still got those images imprinted in my brain. From that point on, as grief sends Louis on a downward spiral of despair, the pace picks up and the novel makes for compulsive reading.

It's no secret that Stephen King has a problem with the ending of his books, but he totally sticks the landing in this one. If anything, the ending of Pet Sematary could well be his best one to date. Sure, some might opine that it lacks resolution. Still, for my money, it was the perfect way to bring this tale to a close.

Pet Sematary is definitely one of King's signature works! Read it for the first time, or reread it yet again. Either way you'll love it!

The final verdict: 8.5/10

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